Murder at Honeychurch Hall

March 10, 2014
This engaging first in a new series from Dennison (Scoop! and three other Vicky Hill mysteries) introduces Kat Stanford, antiques guru and former TV personality. Out of the blue, Kat’s widowed mother, Iris, moves from London to Little Dipperton in Devon. Alarmed, Kat zooms to her mother’s new digs, a small cottage on a grand estate, Honeychurch Hall, only to learn that mom has been writing pseudonymous bestselling romance novels for years. In addition, Kat finds herself in the middle of local drama—at Honeychurch, the nanny has disappeared, and the housekeeper turns up dead; and a long-unsolved jewelry theft continues to weigh on everyone’s mind. On top of all this mayhem, Kat must decide whether to finally dump a married man who keeps pledging to leave his wife for her. While the gentry and servants of the estate don’t rise above stock characters, this upstairs-downstairs cozy should please Downton Abbey fans. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency.

April 1, 2014
Life with the landed gentry lands an antiques expert in even more of a muddle than the one she's trying to escape. Kat Stanford quit her job as star of the reality TV show Fakes & Treasures, hoping to find a quiet place to open an antiques store with her mother, Iris. She wasn't counting on Iris' impetuous decision to buy a carriage house from the dowager Countess of Grenville, mother of the owner of Honeychurch Hall. Arriving in Little Dipperton, Devon, to help her mother settle into what sounded like a picturesque cottage, Kat finds Iris living instead in a dilapidated building with holes in the floors; antiquated fixtures; Kat's father's ashes in a Tupperware container; and aggressively spiteful neighbors, Eric Pugsley and his wife, the leather-clad housekeeper. Iris insists they're trying to drive her out of the carriage house, and Kat isn't sure that would be so bad, especially after the Honeychurch nanny, who warned her about the place, disappears. Worse yet, a conversation Kat overhears between Eric and the Earl of Grenville makes Iris' suspicions sound uncomfortably plausible. The earl's first wife died from what were supposedly natural causes but possibly weren't, a 20-year-old robbery has never been solved, and mystery surrounds a pair of toy bears, not to mention the odd ghost. Kat's even more shocked to discover that Iris has a secret identity and a closer connection to Honeychurch Hall than her daughter imagined. When she stumbles on a body in a hidden grotto, the only element missing from the well-stuffed plot is romance--a deficiency the local detective inspector just might remedy. Dennison (Thieves!, 2011, etc.) launches a new series with a potpourri of sentimentality and suspense. It all works since the dryly self-deprecating heroine keeps herself centered in spite of the zaniness around her.

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May 1, 2014

The drama in Kat Stanford's TV world (she hosts an antiques-themed show) pales in comparison to her recently widowed mother Iris's life. Kat is gobsmacked when she learns in rapid succession that Iris has bought a dilapidated carriage house on an estate in rural Devon; she's broken her arm and been under siege by an estate employee; and that she's a popular erotic suspense author. Initially dubious about her mother's injuries, Kat soon realizes that someone genuinely wants to eliminate Iris. Zany characters pop in and out--this is a funny story--and yet, when the nasty housekeeper becomes a murder victim, the laughing stops. Especially when the local authorities want to blame Iris for the crime. Myriad tiny clues (e.g., Steiff stuffed plush bears) help pave the way to revelations of long-held secrets--and the present-day killer. VERDICT The first in a new series by Dennison (Thieves!) is a humor-laden blend of antiques, celebrity adulation, and old-style British cozy. Fans of Alan Bradley or G.M. Malliet would savor. A romance novel embedded in the cozy mystery makes it especially fun.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2014
Kat Stanford has just announced her departure from hosting a TV show on antiques and heads out of London for some R & R. She drives to Devonshire, where her newly widowed mother has just purchased the carriage house on the Honeychurch Hall estate. Even before Kat reaches her mother's new home, her visit turns stressful as she gets lost, is caught up in a scene with an irate nanny, and has a run-in with the caretaker. To top it off, the carriage house is in total disrepair. It gets worse when it becomes known that Kat was the last person to see the nanny, and the housekeeper at the manor is murdered. Kat and her mother are thus thrust into an elaborate plot built on a deception begun years before. As it unravels, Kat works with the local police detective, using her knowledge of antiques, particularly antique toys, to pull the threads of the crimes, past and present, together. With believable characters, a modern take on manor-house life, a juicy subplot involving Kat's mother, and a possible love interest, this is a good start to a new series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)